The Hauntings at Landguard Fort

Decades ago, terrified children playing near Landguard Fort reported seeing the ghostly apparition of a phantom coach being pulled by a team of horses cross the ditch and then vanish into the fort.

The phantom coach had crossed the ditch where an old drawbridge had once existed hundreds of years ago!

When the Dutch Marines attacked the fort back in 1667 it’s believed that up to ten Dutch soldiers were killed and one English soldier…

It’s said that the ghostly figure of the dead English soldier was witnessed patrolling the Kings Bastion by shocked soldiers who were stationed at the fort during the Second World War.

He’s said to be on a constant look out for the next Dutch attack!

One of the fort’s shop staff got the shock of her life one afternoon when a ghostly figure of a Victorian Artilleryman walked out of the shop’s wall, smiled at her and then turned around and disappeared back into the shop’s solid wall…

Now poltergeist activity had been reported in the past at the shop.

You see, items had been witnessed flying of the display shelves on their own accord by a spooked member of staff!

During the Georgian era it’s said that a young soldier had returned from a tour of duty in the Far East back to Landguard Fort.

Unfortunately for him, he had contracted a tropical disease which had symptoms similar to that of the plague!

The medical officers at the fort had decided to quarantine him in a darken room near the courtyard.

Sadly the young soldier went on to die a painful death from the terrible disease he had contracted overseas.

It’s now said that his agonising screams can occasionally be heard cutting through the air on a quiet night at the fort.

Maria was a young Portuguese woman who was married to one of the fort’s paymaster sergeant back in the 18th century.

Apparently the other soldier’s wives didn’t like Maria too much…

One day she was quickly blamed for the theft of a silk handkerchief which went missing.

The paymaster sergeant left the fort to get help to prove his wife’s innocence.

But unfortunately for him he was accused of desertion when he returned days later.

In those days desertion was a capital offence.

He was quickly put up against a wall and executed by firing squad!

Maria was so devastated by her husband’s death that she committed suicide by jumping off the fort’s ramparts.

Today, members of staff and guests at the fort have reported hearing the eerie sounds of a woman sobbing and whispering in a foreign language…

Many believe it’s the broken ghostly spirit of Maria!

The bathrooms at the fort are rumoured to be haunted by a First World War soldier…

Some say that the soldier was brutally murdered by his angry colleagues when they caught him stealing their possessions!

It’s said that one of the First World War soldiers who brutally murdered his colleague in the bathrooms couldn’t live with himself…

Apparently he entered the magazine room racked with guilt and hanged himself!

And it’s now said that his ghostly spirit haunts the fort’s magazine room to this very day.

But he’s not the only suicidal soldier to haunt the fort.

Terrified witnesses have also seen a ghostly apparition of a white figure dangling from ceiling in one of the other rooms at the fort too!

A common ghostly apparition often witnessed by visitors to the fort is that of the phantom sailor…

He’s often seen peering out of one of the forts windows!

Spooky lights at night are also often reported at the fort by spooked witnesses.

Some visitors to the fort have even reported the feeling of being pushed by an unknown entity when they were visiting the top floor of the fort.